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A high-speed police chase led to the death of an innocent bystander.

Sonjia had just picked up her oldest daughter from her first semester of college. She and her two girls were driving home when their car was hit head on by Brown.

(PRWEB)July 31, 2017

D’Amore Personal Injury Law, LLC has filed a lawsuit in Baltimore City Circuit Court alleging negligence, gross negligence and wrongful death against the Maryland Transportation Authority, the agency to which the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Department belongs; several of its officers; the Maryland Department of Transportation; and Michael R. Brown of Hagerstown, Md.

In the Complaint, Johnson et. al. v. Maryland Transportation Authority, et al. CA-24-C-17-003354, the plaintiffs are seeking damages for the injuries of Rolanda Johnson and Verlonda Johnson-Baker and for the death of Sonjia Johnson-Baker, which occurred Dec. 11, 2015 during a high-speed police chase that lasted for more than 14 miles with police reaching speeds in excess of 130 M.P.H.

The law suit details the Maryland Transportation Authority Police’s pursuit of defendant Michael Brown. MTA police encountered Brown at a convenience store on Eastern Avenue in Baltimore City. Police observed Brown get into a vehicle and drive away. Police followed Brown then, for reasons that remain unknown, elected to effectuate a traffic stop. Brown sped away, leading police on a chase that continued for nearly 14 miles at speeds of more than 130 miles per hour.

The pursuit ended when Brown’s vehicle left the northbound lanes of I-95, crossed the median and smashed head-on with Sonjia Johnson-Baker’s car in the southbound lane. The crash killed Johnson-Baker, and caused serious injuries to her two teen age daughters. A passenger in Brown’s car was also killed.

Attorney Scott Lucas of D’Amore Personal Injury Law, “Sonjia had just picked up her oldest daughter from her first semester of college. She and her two girls were driving home when their car was hit head on by Brown."

Attorney Paul M. D’Amore, founding member of D'Amore Personal Injury Law, stated his hope that that suit would highlight the need for police pursuit laws to be re-examined. The suit alleges that the high speed chase violated public safety doctrines, placing the Plaintiffs in imminent danger for no apparent reason. To date, no explanation for the chase has been provided by the MTA.

USA Today has reported that between 1979 and 2013, over 5,000 innocent people have been killed as a result of high speed police chases. As few as 5% of those chases involved a driver suspected of a violent crime. This has caused some states to review and update their police pursuit policies.